Linkin Pony - Recharge: Revamped

by Kaciekk

Chapter 39

BlazingFlair galloped around a small obstacle course that had been set up on the edge of camp. While he dashed around, ThunderCharm attempted to hit him with energy shots from her practice EPD. It was late the next morning when the two were practicing.

“C’mon, Thunder! I’m not even running that fast!” Blazing called out in an encouraging tone. A few weak blasts were deflected by his armor. “There you go!”

ThunderCharm was still getting the hang of shooting while moving, so she was following Blazing at a much slower pace than him. The orange Earth pony ducked behind a damaged trashcan, and Thunder gazed around for a different vantage point. She was only able to hit Blazing’s tail from where she was. Quickly, Blazing changed his position to a small clearing that was surrounded by piles of wood planks.

“Use your wings! You’re a Pegasus; you can fly!” Blazing pointed out and began moving again.

Blazing followed the wood planks out of the clearing and into a path lined by more planks. There was a wall of crates that blocked Thunder from reaching Blazing. Breaking into a sprint, Thunder leaped over the cates, her wings open to let her drift over the crates effortlessly.

“Good!” Blazing said and slowly came to a halt. ThunderCharm caught up with Blazing at the end of the obstacle course.

“I’m having a hard time hitting a moving target while also moving myself,” ThunderCharm admitted and huffed.

“I’m sure you’d have an easier time hitting me while flying. Why don’t we try that?” Blazing suggested.

Thunder nodded and took to the air with a quick flutter of her wings. As she thrust forward, Blazing spun around and went back through the course. Small blue shots pelted the area around Blazing, a few hitting his armor. Thunder swooped down and past BlazingFlair. Twirling around in the air, she lifted her foreleg and aimed towards him. She charged this attack, instead of a short burst. Blazing didn’t have time to change his direction, and the blast disbursed on his chest armor.

“That was great!” Blazing complimented and Thunder fluttered down to the ground.

“Thanks,” said Thunder.

Blazing lifted his head up and stared past ThunderCharm. Ash was studying them from one of the streets in front of a house. As her eyes met Blazing’s, she began walking towards the two ponies. When Thunder turned around, her face was surprised to see Ash.

“You seem pretty interested in this training,” Blazing observed.

“I like seeing new recruits progress,” Ash stated. “But I think you’re being a bit too easy on her.”

“Easy?” Thunder let out.

Ash continued as if she didn’t hear the young mare. “You need to make this course more challenging.”

“And what do you have in mind?” Blazing countered with intrigue.

Ash didn’t respond. Instead she stepped forward and lifted her head up. With her horn beginning to glow a pinkish red, she eyed the obstacle course. She cast fire spells in between pathways and on top of some crates. The fire burned with the same tint as her magic.

“That… won’t burn our training course will it?” Blazing said with wide eyes.

“It’s magic fire,” Ash smirked. “It’s controlled, so it won’t spread. But I wouldn’t advise touching it.”

ThunderCharm moved back, looking terrified of the small flames. “I have to run though that!? Blazing?”

“Hey, fire is a pretty usual occurrence on the battlefield. Especially with fire energy!” BlazingFlair lifted up his EPD which held a red crystal. “Besides, you can fly! You could easily dodge it.”

“I guess I could try,” Thunder said.

Returning to the start, Thunder took a similar path to what they did just early. The lavender mare continued to attempt to hit Blazing with her energy as well as dodge the fire. Her gallop broke into a jump and she began hovering over the flames which just barely missed her tail.

Thunder returned to her hooves and made her way through a narrow path lined by tethered metal poles. Just then, Ash stepped in front of Thunder, causing the Pegasus to halt. Her eyes glaring with determination, Ash cast a spell in front of Thunder, causing a laser to shoot the ground by Thunder’s forelegs. The younger mare leaped back with a small “eep!”

“You’ve gotta dodge these,” Ash told her. “Don’t worry, they’re just light. They won’t hurt you like the fire.”

Thunder nodded and took a different position farther away from Ash. She galloped around the outside of the course as the bright lasers aimed at her. A few of them hit Thunder’s side while others she was able to outrun and dodge. Blazing stepped up next to Ash to watch.

“The lasers are perfect at imitating Hybrid energy!” Blazing remarked.

“That’s what I was thinking,” Ash replied smuggly.

Blazing’s attention shifted as he heard a far-away voice call out. A curly haired shape emerged in the sky from the west. Intrigued by the flaming obstacle course, FeatherTune closed in on the camp.

“Why is there fire?!” Feather called out in alarm.

“Ash did it!” Blazing replied with a golden hoof pointed to the grey Unicorn.

Ash only gave a slight smirk, and then tossed her head up to decast the fire spell. With a quick glow of her horn, the fire evaporated into nothing.

“What’s up, bud?” Blazing greeted as Feather landed.

“I was just doing my patrol of the area. Unfortunately I did find some Hybrid activity. There were two back at that outpost.” Feather used his wing to point to the west behind him.

“Maybe that’s not unfortunate!” Blazing exclaimed. “That could be perfect practice for ThunderCharm!”

“A-are you sure?” Thunder wondered with uncertainty.

“Yeah! This is a great way to learn! And don’t worry, you’ll have us for backup. So we’ll make sure nothing happens to you!” Blazing insured.

“Sounds good to me,” Feather agreed. “I’ll come with, but first let me tell Rhythm.” The cream Pegasus quickly shot back into the air in search of his friend.

“I’m coming with,” Ash added, to Blazing’s surprise. “I need to get the hell away from this camp at some point.”

“Alright. This outpost is too far to walk to. You better get a cab,” Blazing said to Ash.

“And you better grab a real EPD if you want to do anything to a Hybrid,” Ash smirked while tapping Thunder on her shoulder.

FeatherTune flew overhead while the other three ponies followed him from below. The way there had been relatively quiet. Thunder stayed in the back and didn’t talk much. Meanwhile Ash seemed intently focused on driving, her blue eyes glued to the desert ahead, only to glance up at Feather every so often.

“So. you said you wanted out of the camp?” BlazingFlair spoke up, trying to make conversation. “I’m sure you’re tired of us by now.” He tried to speak in a light, joking manner.

“No it’s not that,” Ash sighed. “Well, sometimes you all can get on my nerves, but that’s not the point. It’s that I hate staying in one spot for too long. I’ve already told Jet this but he doesn’t seem to get it. I know he thought this would be a good way to spend time together but…” She pondered for words for a moment. “I guess I just don’t like being cooped up.”

“Why don’t you guys pick up some short objective missions from time to time?” Blazing suggested. “I’m sure we’d be fine if you head out every so often, as long as you tell us ahead of time.”

“Yeah, I suppose we could,” Ash contemplated that.

Blazing realized Ash’s cold behavior since he met her made a lot more sense now. She was unhappy staying in the camp, and wanted more than just busy work. Blazing hoped she’d be able to work out something with her boyfriend. He liked this more open, outgoing side of Ash.

They finally neared the outpost. Two Hybrids roamed around it, each on opposite ends of the grounds. One was a claw wielding Pegasus with a battered wing, the other the scout kind of Earth Pony.

“They’re separated,” Ash stated as they exited the cab. “It should be easy to take them out. Blazing, why don’t you and Thunder go after the scout; it will be an easier target.”

“And we can get the other guy,” Feather finished for her as he hovered next to the Unicorn. She agreed with a curt nod.

With Thunder following behind, BlazingFlair tread around the outer fence, looking for a way to get into the outpost. He found an opening to the north of the old shed. After slipping through, both Blazing and Thunder kept their sides to the wall of the shed, peering out at the Hybrid that roamed the clearing.

“Alright,” Blazing directed. “I’ll distract it, and you do your best to fire at it, okay?”

“Okay,” Thunder replied in a meek voice.

Blazing stepped out from behind the shed wall and revealed himself to the Hybrid. At first, the metal creature didn’t attack. Instead, it’s head slowly followed Blazing as he made his way into the clearing, and finally confronted it. As the Hybrid took a few heavy steps forward, Blazing began to douse fire energy at the ground in front of him. The Hybrid continued to walk forward, its metal legs unaffected by the flames as they licked at them.

Blue energy blasts started pelting the side of the Hybrid. Thunder had her right foreleg extended, but her face halfway hidden behind the wall. After a few shots, the Hybrid swung its head around to glare at the Pegasus. For a moment, Thunder faltered and gasped. Blazing expelled fire on the Hybrid directly, drawing its attention away.

“Keep shooting!” Blazing encouraged

The Hybrid looked back at Thunder, ignoring the fire in its face. With heavy thuds, it began crawling its way towards ThunderCharm. It grumbled something beneath its mask.

“I think it understands Ponish!” Thunder called out in horror.

“Well, it was a pony!” Blazing replied, almost apologetically

Thunder spun around and ran back towards the fence. As the Hybrid reached the shed, BlazingFlair rushed forward and slammed into the creature. The Hybrid crashed into the shed, its weight enough to crack the wood. While it was stunned, Blazing took his armored foreleg and bashed it into one of the Hybrid’s red eyes. Thunder returned to firing at their enemy, and Blazing gave her an approving nod.

BlazingFlair stepped back to examine the Hybrid for any weak points. As he did, the cyborg began to follow Thunder again, but it was too slow to catch up with her. She kept her EPD up and still attacked while she walked backwards. With her as a distraction, Blazing came up with an idea. He could tell that the Hybrid’s side belly was made of flesh, not metal.

Once again, Blazing bashed into the Hybrid, where now it toppled over into the dirt. The fall caused its second glass eye to crack. It cried out in pain and confusion as it could not see. Blazing curled his hoof up, so that the sharp part of his armor was pointing out. With force, he jabbed the metal into the Hybrid's exposed side. Without vision and with this injury, the Hybrid was not a threat anymore.

“You did great!” BlazingFlair told Thunder with a grin.

The young mare only stared horrifyingly at the struggling Hybrid on the ground. Then her eyes angled upward, gazing past Blazing. He swiveled around to see FeatherTune flying towards them.

“Seriously Blazing?!” Feather exclaimed, his hooves outstretched. “Do you want to cause a forest fire?!”

Blazing noticed the collection of flames that had begun eating away at rubbish and the shed. FeatherTune used his wings to cast gusts of wind over the fire until it had died away.

“Sorry,” Blazing said, not really meaning it. “It’s not like there’s a forest around to cause one anyway. Maybe a cactus fire.”

Feather only shook his head, and the rest of them met up with Ash. Both of the Hybrids had been taken care of, so they headed back to the camp. ThunderCharm was uneasy on the way back.

“You should have seen Thunder! She was great!” Blazing had been telling Ash. He glanced at Thunder in the back seat. She seemed troubled.

“What’s wrong?”

“I… I don’t know if I want to be a part of the Resistance if it means killing…” Thunder mumbled.

“But it was just a Hybrid-” Blazing tried to say.

“But it was still a pony!” Thunder argued.

“It used to be a pony. All of them,” Blazing explained. “Now they steal helpless ponies to make them into slaves and into more Hybrids. They’ve ruined our climate and are taking our resources. It’s what we have to do.” The stallion tried to speak with sympathy.

“It felt wrong,” Thunder said, choked up.

Blazing realized how traumatized Thunder was. Being a Hybrid fighter wasn’t the path for her. “You know, you can still help the Resistance in other ways. You don’t have to be a fighter. You could be a teacher, or a doctor. Or even a gardener. There’s plenty of other occupations you could choose.”

“Really? Then… why did you make me do this?” Thunder questioned with hurt in her eyes.

“I- it wasn’t my choice,” Blazing defended. “You see, even if you don’t become a fighter, you need to know how to defend yourself. It’s required by the Resistance that all recruits know some form of self defense and combat. You never know what you’ll end up encountering in the wastelands. I was… just trying to do my job teaching you. I’m sorry, Thunder.”

The young mare sat for a moment and blinked while she tried to comprehend. She then gazed away, staring out at the desert through the window.

BlazingFlair twisted back around and faced forward. He hoped that Thunder could understand that this was the way of life for the Resistance, and it wasn’t his intent to hurt her. Ash looked away from the wheel for a moment and placed her hoof on Blazing’s shoulder.

“You did the best you could,” Ash assured. “She’ll get it soon enough. Just give her time.”

“Yeah,” Blazing replied. He stared out the windshield into the rolling desert. She isn’t the only pony this has happened to, he thought. She’ll have to learn that this is what life is sadly. This world is cruel, and that's why we have to do whatever it takes to keep it safe.